Time to stop the rot

Children’s teeth decay alarming problem

MORE than 3000 Queensland children a year are being admitted to hospital before they turn 10 because they have rotten teeth, data shows.

Figures obtained by News Corp Australia reveal half of all hospital visits for tooth decay in Queensland are for children up to nine years old, with more than 3000 admissions every year.

Australian Dental Association Queensland chief execu- tive Ian Meyers said tooth decay was a preventable “diet and lifestyle disease” caused in large part by too much sugar.

He said children most often required hospital treatment when their teeth became so bad, they needed multiple extractions or “very large fillings”. He warned that even decay in baby teeth could have serious consequences.

“The baby teeth are there for a reason,” Professor Meyers said.

“They set the way the child bites their teeth together; it sets up the shape of their jaws.

“If those teeth get very bad decay or have to be extracted very early on, it can change the whole development of that child’s teeth, and it increases the need for possible orthodontic treatment as they get older.”

The Queensland Health data shows that in total, public and private hospitals treated caries more than 6000 times annually during the past three financial years.

In 2016-17, children under the age of nine accounted for 50 per cent of these episodes, but this proportion has been slowly decreasing since 2013-14, when this age group accounted for 57 per cent of cases.

A Queensland Health spokesman said this 2 per cent to 3 per cent annual decline occurred despite the state’s increasing population. He said to prevent tooth decay, parents should ensure their children’s teeth were brushed twice a day with fluoride toothpaste, they ate a healthy diet, consumed few sugary drinks, and had regular dental checks.

IF THOSE TEETH GET VERY BAD DECAY OR HAVE TO BE EXTRACTED VERY EARLY ON, IT CAN CHANGE THE WHOLE DEVELOPMENT OF THAT CHILD’S TEETH ... IAN MEYERS

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